# locust

> English word · Noun · IPA /ˈləʊ.kəst/ · frequency rank #28,979

## Definitions
1. Any of the grasshoppers, often polyphenic and usually swarming, in the family Acrididae that are very destructive to crops and other vegetation, especially migratory locusts (Locusta migratoria).
2. A fruit or pod of a carob tree (Ceratonia siliqua).
3. Any of various often leguminous trees and shrubs, especially of the genera Robinia and Gleditsia; locust tree.
4. A cicada.
5. A mainlander.
6. A dose of laudanum.

## Etymology
Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *lek-der.?
Latin locusta
Anglo-Norman locustebor.
Middle English locuste
English locust
Inherited from Middle English locuste, locust, from Anglo-Norman locuste, Middle French locuste, and their source, Latin locustam (“locust, crustacean, lobster”, accusative of locusta). Doublet of langouste.
Noun sense 3 (“kind of tree”), originally referring to the carob (compare locust bean), is based on the resemblance of the trees' beanlike seed pods to the insect and is likely a semantic loan from Ancient Greek ἀκρίς (akrís).
Noun sense 5 (“mainlander”) is a semantic loan from Cantonese 蝗蟲 /蝗虫 (wong4 cung4), also meaning "locust".

## Easily confused with
- **lost** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/locust-vs-lost)
- **lust** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/locust-vs-lust)
- **lotus** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/locust-vs-lotus)
- **lousy** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/locust-vs-lousy)
- **louse** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/locust-vs-louse)
- **lowest** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/locust-vs-lowest)
- **locks** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/locks-vs-locust)
- **locus** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/locus-vs-locust)
- **locum** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/locum-vs-locust)
- **locket** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/locket-vs-locust)

## Common misspellings (9)
`lcoust`, `llocust`, `loccust`, `locsut`, `locusst`, `locustt`, `locuts`, `loucst`, `olcust`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/locust